Improvement in machines for preparing cotton and other fibrous materials for carding



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'RICHARD KrrsoN, or LowELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR PREPARING COTTON AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR CARDING.

Specicatir n forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,049, dated September 2Q, 1863.

To aZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, RicHARD KrrSoN, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Preparing Cotton and Other Fibrous Materials for Uarding; and I do hereby declare that the following iS a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of the series of rotating draft cylinders or screens and the apron, the combination of which at the outlet of a cleaning-trunk constitutes the principal feature of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical Section of an opener and lap-head connected by a cleaning-trunk, illustrating` the application of my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corref spending parts in both figures.

In preparing laps for cardingl some attempts have been made to combine an opener and a cleaning-trunk with a lap-head for the purpose of forming what is known as a breaker-lap 5 but such combination has never been made to operate with perfect success,

owing to the difficulty of combining a suita ble number lof draft-cylinders at the mouth of the trunk to prevent excessive back-pressure on the opener and in the trunk, such pressure causing the ber to be badly curled and to come out in bunches. It has been common in connection with such combination to use a blow-fan on the opener to drive the cotton through; but this tends to pack the ber in the trunk and cause it to become choked up.

My invention consists in the arrangement of an endless apron, in combination with the draft-cylinders, as hereinafter described, at the mouth of the trunk, whereby I am enabled to use three or more of such cylinders instead of only two, which is the greatest number which it has hitherto been practicable to use.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The opener A, trunk B, and lap-head C, employed in carrying out my invention may be of ordinary construction, except that no blow-fan should be used on the opener. The mouth of the trunk at the outlet end is enlarged in semicylindrical form, as shown at D D, to contain the rotating perforated or reticulated draft cylinders or screens E E E E', which are constructed, driven, and connected at their ends with the suction-fans F Fin theusual manner. These cylinders are arranged directly above the horizontal endless apron G, whose combination with them constitutes my invention. This apron is so arranged under the mouth of the trunk and its upper surface moves in such direction as to deliver to the feed-rolls of the lap-head the sheets of ber deposited upon it by the draft cylinders or screens E E E E.

The four draft cylinders or screens represented in the drawings are arranged in two pairs, E E and E E', those constituting a pair being arranged so near together'that there is only i ust room enough between them for the two sheets of ber which are collected upon them, and they rotate, respectively, in the directions of the arrows shown upon them in Fig. 2. rIhe two sheets from the two cylinders of each pair are doubled at the point where the cylinders meet, and from that point they pass together to the apron with that cylinder whose lower part moves in the same direction with the apron. The two sheets from the pairof cylindersE E farthest from the lap are deposited upon the apron, and as they are carried along toward thelaphead they receive the two from the pair E E',

andv all pass together to the lap-head. A

larger number of cylinders may be used, but I consider that four will generally be sufcient, though three would operate better than the two commonly employed. The arrangement of the cylinders relatively to each other might possibly be varied from that shown, but they Should in any case be arranged to deliver on the apron arranged below them.

By using the draft cylinders or screens, arranged as described, in combination with an apron without a blow-fan, I am enabled to make a more even lap than has ever yet been made at the end of a trunk. This is owing in part to the greater number of sheets which are doubled, and in part to the back-pressure being removed and the ber being, as it l were, pulled, insteadl of pushed, through the trunk.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the endless apron G and draft cylinders or screens in combination with each other and in relation to the mouth ofthe trunk and to the lap head, substantially as herein specified, whereby several sheets of liner delivered from the cylinders or screens are united and delivered in a united state to the lap-head.

RICHARD KITSON. Witnesses:

HoRATIo G. If. GORLIss, WELEB SPALDING. 

